TELEGRAM TO THE PETROGRAD DEFENCE COMMITTEE[1]

Written:Written on May 13, 1919Published:Published in full in 1941 in the bookDokumenty o geroicheskoi oborone Petrograda v 1919, Moscow.

      First published, but not in full, inPravdaNo. 165, June 16, 1939.

      Printed from the typewritten text signed by V. I. Lenin.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1976],

      Moscow,Volume 35,

      page389.Translated:Andrew RothsteinTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Zinoviev,Defence Committee, Petrograd

Withthe object of ascertaining the situation in Petrograd,
the Defence Council requests you to give an exhaustive
reply: on what considerations was it decided to evacuate
several factories from Petrograd and the neighbourhood, by
whom and why was an instruction given to sink ships, the
total numbers of workers mobilised and remaining in the
factories, are all those who have been mobilised really being
used for defence requirements, for what reasons were
Commissars appointed to the slate factories, was there an
indiscriminate call-up of citizens or was the decision of the central
authority observed. The Defence Council, while leaving in
force for the time being the slate of siege in Petrograd, notifies
you that measures taken by the Petrograd Defence
Committee must be applied with the knowledge of, and in
appropriate cases by agreement with, the central
authority.[2]

LeninChairman, Defence Council

[1]Atthe beginning of May 1919, the threat of an offensive by White
Finnish troops made it necessary to mobilise the working people
of Petrograd in defence of the city. Some of the Petrograd leaders,
however, including G. Y. Zinoviev, Chairman of the city’s
Defence Committee, underestimated the strength and ability of the
defenders. In a mood of panic they decided without informing the
Defence Council, to evacuate several factories, and were
preparing to scuttle the Baltic Fleet. Workers were mobilised
haphazardly with the result that many factories of great defence importance
had to slow down. The telegram sent by Lenin was on behalf of
the Defence Council. The draft of it was signed by L. B. Krasin
and A. I. Rykov.

[2]TheDefence Council look direct control over the organisation of
the defence of Petrograd. On May 17, 1919 it decided not to
announce and not to carry out any general evacuation of Petrograd or
the Petrograd area, but to set up a special commission with powers
to state what should be moved out of the city, and how this should
be done.